Podcast
12 Geniuses Podcast
Hosted by Don MacPherson · EN
The difference between average and greatness might be one or two well executed things. 12 Geniuses explores the highly successful people in business, athletics, and music so we can all learn how to perform at our highest level.
25episodes
Episodes
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Teens & Tech | Dr. Jean Twenge
Nov 100:30:36Tap to summarizeParenting today often feels like an uphill battle, with technology invading every corner of our kids’ lives. From the rise of social media addiction to the growing mental health crisis among children and teens, parents are grappling with how they can create a healthy, balanced relationship with technology for their kids.In this interview, Dr. Jean Twenge draws on her decades as a psychologist studying the impact of technology and mental health and her personal experience as the mother of three teenagers. She describes how technology is harming children and how that harm has grown in recent years. She goes on to describe the damage to the minds of teens caused by social media usage, video gaming, and pornography consumption. She shares how she'd like lawmakers to regulate tech usage among teens and younger children. Dr. Twenge also shares the risks AI companions pose to teen development and, drawing from her book 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World, she provides guidance for ways in which parents and teachers can help raise independent, well-rounded children in a tech-centric world. Dr. Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 190 scientific publications and books. Her books include 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World, Generations, iGen, Generation Me, and others. Dr. Twenge frequently gives talks and seminars on generational differences and technology based on a dataset of 43 million people. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Real Time with Bill Maher, Meet the Press, Fox and Friends, NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and National Public Radio.She holds a BA and MA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
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The Rise & Risk of AI Companions | Mandy McLean
Oct 1400:45:07Tap to summarizeMost people have an understanding of just how devastating social media and unrestrained access to technology have been to teens and young adults. What’s less understood is what the next threat is going to be to young people and their mental health. Evidence is mounting that it’s likely to be artificial intelligence and the very strange relationships people are starting to create with AI companions. People are using AI as their coaches, therapists, trusted friends, and even their romantic partners. According to Common Sense Media, more than half of American teens are using AI companions at least once a month. What’s forgotten is the deep, dark secrets being shared with AI companions are not protected or private. More concerning, many users lose touch with the fact that the AI companions are not real people. In this episode, Mandy McLean, CEO of ClassWaves, discusses what AI companions are, the risks they pose to users, why AI companions are appealing, and what parents and educators should be doing to avoid safety and manipulation risks AI companions introduce to students. Mandy says now is the perfect moment for AI companions to exponentially grow because of the loneliness epidemic, the amount of time people are spending using digital devices, and the quality of the AI companions in market. Mandy also discusses what is likely happening to the brains of children who frequently use AI companions. She talks about what happens to people who lose an “AI spouse” when outdated technology is sunset. She closes out the interview by providing advice to parents and educators who want to help children avoid the dangerous use of AI companions and she shares what is filling her with a sense of optimism. Mandy McLean is the co-founder and CEO of ClassWaves, an AI-powered platform that helps teachers transform learning by fostering learner agency and social capital through dialogue. A former high school teacher with a PhD in education and statistics, she has spent over a decade studying how people learn and later held leadership roles at Guild as Director of Research, Head of Applied Science, and Director of AI Transformation. At ClassWaves, Mandy is redefining the teacher’s role—not as a content deliverer, but as a guide for deeper conversation and connection. She also writes on Substack and speaks widely about education, adolescent development, and the social impact of technology. She lives in Colorado with her husband, two kids, and two cats, and she loves running, mountain adventures, and exploring big questions.
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Empowering Groups & Teams | Dr. Colin Fisher
Sep 2500:38:05Tap to summarizeLiving and working in groups is both a blessing and a curse. Too often, groups are in the news for all the wrong reasons: conformity, polarization, prejudice, conflict, and general mass stupidity. The secret is understanding how to work with the invisible forces of group dynamics instead of being mindlessly pushed around by them. In this interview, Dr. Colin Fisher shares his research on what leaders need to know and do in order to get their teams to perform up to their potential. He also shares how conformity can be used as an asset and competition can be detrimental to the way groups and teams operate. Because one of the methods of creating group cohesion is to create an “out” group, Dr. Fisher finishes with a conversation about ways in which the division plaguing many countries can be repaired.Dr. Fisher received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University, and previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Boston University’s School of Management. Prior to his Ph.D. he studied improvisation in the arts at New York University (M.A.) and jazz trumpet at New England Conservatory of Music (B.Mus.). In his prior career as a jazz trumpet player, Colin was a long-time member of the Grammy-nominated Either/Orchestra, with whom he toured extensively and recorded several critically acclaimed albums. Originally from Redmond, Washington in the USA, he now lives in Northeast London with his wife and two children. He can sometimes be found performing at jazz jams throughout London.
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Escaping Life's Hidden Prisons | Shaka Senghor
Sep 1000:44:59Tap to summarizeTo have liberated lives, people often need to overcome past narratives, survivor's remorse, fear, the inability to forgive, and a host of other barriers. These barriers can be “hidden prisons,” according to Shaka Senghor - the author of “How to Be Free: A Proven Guide to Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons.” Shaka knows about prisons - the hidden ones and the ones with locks, walls, and bars. He spent 19 years incarcerated - seven of which were in solitary confinement. While in prison, Shaka educated himself, found positive role models, and completely transformed his life in a way that has enabled him to reach his potential and create opportunities for others. In this interview, Shaka discusses the power of journaling, how to become resilient, why forgiveness benefits the person doing the forgiving, and most importantly, how to break free of the prisons that hold many people back from becoming who they were meant to be. To end the conversation, Shaka answers how his understanding of freedom has evolved since he was first arrested. Shaka Senghor is a globally recognized resilience expert, bestselling author, and transformative thought leader whose journey from incarceration to inspiration has empowered executives, entrepreneurs, elite athletes, and audiences around the world. Born in Detroit amid economic hardship, Shaka overcame immense adversity—including 19 years in prison—to become a leading authority on resilience, grit, and personal transformation.
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The Emotionally Intelligent Team | Dr. Vanessa Druskat
Sep 200:40:45Tap to summarizeGetting people to voluntarily share their best information and act in the best interest of their team are two of the biggest challenges leaders face. In an insecure economy, it can be more difficult to get people on a team to demonstrate prosocial behavior, however, Dr. Vanessa Druskat’s research proves that emotionally intelligent teams that are supportive of each other - by listening deeply, offering help, and celebrating the successes of others - will offer superior results. In this interview, Dr. Druskat shares how leaders can build collaborative groups that outperform the competition. She says that healthy teams emerge when norms are created that allow everyone on the team to be heard and to contribute in their roles. She goes on to discuss how to create a sense of belonging when so many people revile DEI, how AI is going to influence the desire to work collaboratively, and how her research on team effectiveness can be applied to create more unified communities. Dr. Vanessa Druskat is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of New Hampshire. She is an internationally recognized leadership and team performance expert who advises leaders and teams in some of the world's most respected Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 organizations. Her thirty-year research career examining differences between team cultures (i.e., social norms and routines) in high-performing and average-performing work teams led her to pioneer the concept of team emotional intelligence. She has published award-winning research articles in her field's top academic and practitioner journals and serves on the executive board of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Her popular Harvard Business Review article (with S. Wolff) on emotionally intelligent teams has been reprinted four times in collections of HBR’s most valued articles. Her book “The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest” was released in July of 2025.
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Marshall Goldsmith | The A.I. Leadership Coach
Dec 18, 202400:40:19Tap to summarizeMarshall Goldsmith has been one of the world’s leading executive coaches for years. He has helped CEOs all over the world become better leaders and his books on leadership have sold millions of copies. The problem is that Marshall’s time is limited and he is very expensive. To solve this problem, Marshall has been trying to give away everything he has learned about leadership and coaching for free. He sees it as his legacy and the way he can most benefit humanity. Enter MarshallGoldsmith.ai - a bot that brings the compendium of Marshall’s knowledge and much, much more to leaders at no cost.In this interview, Marshall discusses his efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into his coaching philosophy and the competencies necessary to be an effective leader in an AI world. Marshall shares his thoughts on how AI will transform humanity and he talks about the mistakes we are making today, with an emphasis on the propensity of people to judge other people, that the people living 50 years from now will look back at in disbelief. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith has been recognized as one of the Top Ten Business Thinkers and the top-rated executive coach in the world. Published in 2015, his book Triggers is a Wall Street Journal and New York Times #1 Bestseller. He’s also the author of New York Times best seller and #1 Wall Street Journal Business Book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, winner of the Harold Longman Award as Best Business Book of the Year. With nearly 40 years of hands-on experience, Marshall Goldsmith is the leading expert on leadership and coaching for behavioral change. His latest book, The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment, was co-written with Mark Reiter and was released in 2022.
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Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman | Leading Through High Pressure
Dec 3, 202400:44:40Tap to summarizeMajor General Kenneth Ekman is a command pilot with thousands of flying hours. Many of those hours have been in high-pressure, combat situations. In his role as the Department of Defense West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command, Maj. Gen. Ekman has had to deal with a variety of other high-pressure situations, including the drawdown of U.S. forces in Niger. In this interview, Maj. Gen. Ekman discusses three topics in detail - leadership, managing pressure, and the future of Africa. He describes the leadership model he believes yields the best results for teams, how to prepare a team to execute a mission, the concept of “disagree and commit,” and managing change as a leader. Referencing his experience as a command pilot, Maj. Gen. Ekman talks about the methods he has used for managing stress and high-pressure situations, building trust when the stakes are life and death, and how he has developed resilience over the course of his career. The conversation ends with Maj. Gen. Ekman detailing why Africa is important to the United States and how their shifting demographics, along with their abundance of natural resources, will make Africa a more important global influence throughout the rest of the 21st century. Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman is the Department of Defense West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart Möhringen, Germany. In this capacity, he coordinates with African militaries, the U.S. interagency, and allies to build unity of effort, maximize the effectiveness of operations, activities and investments, and ensure alignment with U.S. whole of government efforts to advance posture initiatives and campaign objectives in West Africa.
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Don MacPherson | Becoming Resilient
Nov 26, 202400:43:22Tap to summarizeIn 2018, 12 Geniuses host Don MacPherson was told that he was a candidate to have both his hips replaced. With two young children in diapers and believing he was too young for the procedures, he put off the surgeries for two years. The pandemic extended the wait until 2023. By that time, Don’s mobility had become limited, he was irritable, sleep was difficult, energy was low, and he wondered if he would ever be able to restore a life that was without constant discomfort. In this interview, Don turns over the host microphone to his friend Jason Lauritsen to discuss what Don learned about himself and becoming resilient. Don and Jason discuss how being open to feedback was crucial in helping Don realize that he needed to improve his health, how an audit of Don’s values helped him understand that his family would suffer if he didn’t take care of what ailed him, why this story might be relatable to others who are experiencing chronic pain and those who are living with someone in chronic pain, and how Don has gained a renewed sense of optimism about the future from this experience. They go on to talk about why building resilience is vital for anyone who wants to have a long, successful, fulfilling life and Don shares what he would like to do with the next 25 years of his life. Don MacPherson is CEO of 12 Geniuses and host of the 12 Geniuses podcast. He is also a founder of Home at Home, an organization that offers a comprehensive range of services, from home assessments to renovations, to make aging in place not only possible but truly fulfilling.A dynamic keynote speaker, Jason Lauritsen is a true thought leader in the world of work and employee engagement who is dedicated to revolutionizing the way we Lead With Relationship™. He fearlessly challenges traditional norms to reshape the employee experience by consistently placing authentic human connection at the heart of leadership. Jason is the author of two books, Unlocking High Performance and Social Gravity. Jason’s thought leadership has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Talent Management magazine, HR Executive magazine, and SHRM publications.
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Erika Ayers Badan | Careers, Culture, & Becoming CEO
Nov 18, 202400:35:36Tap to summarizeWhat does it take to get to the C-suite? In the case of Erika Ayers Badan, the road to the CEO’s chair was filled with risk and had plenty of bumps along the way. Earlier in 2024, Erika was appointed CEO of Food52. She’s the former CEO of Barstool Sports, where she saw Barstool’s rocket ship ascent in the competitive sports media environment. She is also the author of the book “Nobody Cares About Your Career.” In this interview with Erika, she discusses her willingness to take risks, how she thinks about career development, the roles of mentors in assisting her success, her approach to getting over the need to be perfect, and she discusses the CEO’s role in cultivating the company culture that will help an organization succeed. Erika Ayers Badan is the CEO of Food52 and the former CEO of Barstool Sports. During her tenure at Barstool from 2016 to 2024, Erika transformed the organization from a regional blog to a national powerhouse operation leading to a 5,000% increase in overall revenue, making it one of the most innovative and successful internet media brands. Before joining Barstool, Erika held several leadership positions in media and technology at Microsoft, AOL, Demand Media, and Yahoo. She has been extensively recognized for her innovation in the industry, including being named one of Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in Sports amongst other achievements. Erika currently serves on the boards of the Premier Lacrosse League, Axon Enterprise (AXON), and Malaria No More. She is the author of the book “Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure is Good, The Great Ones Play Hurt and Other Hard Truths.”
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Seth Godin | "This Is Strategy"
Oct 24, 202400:33:29Tap to summarizeIn his new book, This Is Strategy, Seth Godin reminds readers that “the future comes one day at a time” and “today is your best chance to improve tomorrow.” Despite the speed with which the world is changing, Seth believes prioritizing long-term thinking over quick fixes is the best way to make “smart, purposeful choices that shape a better tomorrow - personally and professionally.”In this interview, Seth shares his definition of what strategy is, what people are getting right about strategy, and the systems he sees that are shaping the world. Seth goes on to discuss how leaders need to be thinking about strategy in a fast-changing, A.I. (tech-centric) world. He finishes the discussion by talking about the mistakes we are making in 2024 that the people of 2074 will look back at in disbelief and he shares what fills him with a sense of optimism.For more than thirty years, Seth Godin has been trying to “turn on lights, inspire people and teach them how to level up.” He is the author of more than 20 best-selling books, including his latest book This Is Strategy. He is an entrepreneur who, after selling one of his companies to Yahoo, became Yahoo’s vice president of direct marketing. Seth’s blog is one of the most popular in the world with more than 8,000 posts and a million readers. He is a member of the Marketing Hall of Fame.
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